VATICAN-AFFILIATED CONFERENCE REVIEWS CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM

UNCLAS VATICAN 000031 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREF PREL KIRF IZ IS VT SUBJECT: VATICAN-AFFILIATED CONFERENCE REVIEWS CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM COEXISTENCE IN THE MIDDLE EAST REF: 09 VATICAN 95 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Political, academic and religious leaders from the Middle East presented their views on Christian-Muslim coexistence in the region at a conference organized by the Vatican-affiliated Community of Sant'Egidio on February 22 in Rome. The conference addressed, among other topics, the future of Christians in Iraq, inter-religious dialogue and globalization, and the role of the media in helping Arab audiences connect with the non-Arab world. Conference participants repeated some tired arguments and did not break new ground on avenues for coexistence, but did discuss some new themes. The conference also provided insights about ongoing challenges to getting the U.S. story out. End Summary. ¶2. (U) In one of the panels, Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk lamented the exodus of Christians from Iraq. He complained that the Iraqi Christian population, which has gone from an estimated 800,000 before the war to an estimated 300,000 currently, often face a hostile environment. If the situation does not change, he said, all Iraqi Christians may decide to emigrate. Sako did not think that the March Iraqi parliamentary elections would change things much, but was encouraging all Christians to exercise their right to vote. He opposed, however, mixing party politics with Christianity. Religion, he said, is not an appropriate foundation for a political party or nation-state. ¶3. (U) Lebanese Minister of Culture Tarek Mitri spoke about the importance of inter-religious dialogue to increase intercultural understanding. He said globalization has helped the Middle East substantially by fostering the growth of a middle class. However, globalization can lead to anxiety as flows of negative information increase worldwide. Mitri stated that many Arab Muslims fear the takeover of their culture by the West and often link local Christians with Western values. He stated that these fears are exacerbated by the presence of Israel in the region. ¶4. (U) Mhamed Krichen, from the Al Jazeera satellite TV station, spoke about the importance of information flowing into the Middle East. Many in the West mistakenly assume that Al Jazeera covers only news that relates to anti-Islamic prejudices, he said. Krichen used the Haitian crisis as an example of a disaster widely covered by the network. The story helped Arab audiences step back from their preoccupation about how non-Muslims view Islamic culture. ¶5. (U) Radwan Al Sayyid, from the As-Sharq Al-Awast media group of Lebanon, dismissed the notion that journalists should pay as much attention to nation-building efforts as to bombings, killings, terrorism, etc. In places like Iraq, he claimed, reporting about U.S. nation-building efforts would amount to propaganda. ¶5. (SBU) Comment: The Community of Sant'Egidio -- and other organizations at, and affiliated with, the Vatican -- continues to organize frequent inter-religious encounters. They're needed. The topic of this conference was "uniting factors present within monotheistic religions" - but it still brought to the fore many differences. Several presenters repeated hackneyed (and occasionally implicit anti-American) arguments. Jewish leaders were excluded purposefully to focus specifically on Christian-Muslim relations. Yet, speakers mentioned Israel many times in pejorative ways - generally linking Israel to the West. Many more encounters, plus inter-faith action to address common concerns, will clearly be needed to chip away at such reflexive views. More constructively, however, this conference did deliver some diversity of themes for an inter-religious dialogue gathering. The emphasis on Haiti, for example, was salutary as it reminded the audience of the need for unity in confronting terrible tragedy. This was the same theme Sant'Egidio covered in fall 2009 at its flagship annual event, held last year in Poland, where it took thousands of participants of all faiths together to visit Auschwitz and Birkenau (reftel). DIAZ